Next to the Road
by Triforce Garner
Summary: They've come home at last. She could smile again. Now, driving down that road to meet them at the river, she'd breathe her final sigh of relief.


Author's Note:

SPOILERS BECAUSE THIS IS RELATED TO AFTER THE CREDITS ROLL SO DON'T READ IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED THE WHOLE GAME YET! I on the other hand LOVE to spoil things for myself...

Ah Final Fantasy XIII. How I have enjoyed the journey so. So many wonderful memories and such a fantastic story.

I'm sad that it's over, but glad that there is now FINALLY a good ending where everything is right and no one is left out. So, so, so very glad. Yes, I cared about these characters that much...okay maybe not Snow...but everyone else at least for the most part.

And so here I have written a little oneshot for Lightning Returns. The game was so much fun for me and because of that I have several different story ideas for it. Hopefully they are well liked. Hope this one is too. I don't know.

**Warnings**: none aside from the SPOILERS alert I planted above.

What did you think of Lightning Returns?

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'Next to the Road'

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She flipped her hair, holding onto her hat in one hand as the wind whipped everything around. She had a small smile on her face and a soft twinkle in her eye.

Snow had sunglasses on, his free hand on the car door and his other on the wheel. He also had a smile on his face, even if it was a weak one.

When she had first saw it, she was mildly amused. She had to admit, a truck fit Snow perfectly well. She remembered how he had practically pranced around it in glee, smiling wide and hollering about his luck in finding a good deal. He was beyond elated.

Now they were driving down the road with the sun in their faces and not a care in the world.

Not anymore.

"Once we get there, I'd like to see their faces while they're lookin' at my new ride." Snow said, speaking loudly to overpower the wind. His blonde hair was free around his face, his skin bright in the sunlight. He looked so happy, even if he was tired.

"Yah, I'll bet they'll want a ride too!" she giggled. She looked at the hills passing by in a flash and let herself relax in the seat. She looked back when Snow laughed.

"If that's the case then maybe I should start chargin'." he joked.

Serah shook her head at his playfulness, choosing instead to keep her eyes on the fields beside them to look for their destination. She looked down at the map in her other hand not holding her hat.

"Hmm, it should be somewhere along this next mile. Slow down, we don't want to miss it." warned Serah. She laughed as Snow saluted her.

"_Can do_ my beautiful wife!"

She sighed as the truck slowed down considerably and the wind left her cheeks. It had been a long journey. Her eyes had dulled during the passage of time and her once long ponytail had been chopped off. So many memories were captured in her heart, but she'd decided a change was in order to leave it behind. Snow had reacted with shock at first, but he made sure to let her know she was still as beautiful as she'd always been to him.

They all chose to wear white today. It was a requirement to honor their reunion and all that they'd been through. White, the color of purity and of a fresh start. White was also the color of their friendship, or so they'd decided. Snow wore an open button up shirt and a sleeveless shirt underneath with a pair of black pants. He'd fought hard so as to not have to be completely dressed in white, and Serah'd relented in the end. She herself chose a simple white dress reaching the tops of her knees. No designs or patterns, just white.

Suddenly Serah sat up straight in her seat, her finger pointing to a small hill next to a partially hidden river.

"Snow, stop here!" she squealed. Her heart sped up fast. She hadn't remembered feeling so excited in a long time.

"Here we go." Snow turned the wheel, allowing his truck to creep into the lush grass and sputter to a stop. It was a rusty old thing, but Snow was determined to make it his own. It was his own personal project now.

"Guys!" Serah shouted as she feebly pushed open the truck door. Snow barely managed to get around the truck to help when Serah gracelessly fell from the truck to her knees.

But she didn't care.

"Fang? Vanille!" she shouted. She pulled herself up and jogged through the grass, her straw hat in her hand.

When she finished coming down the hill and approached the river, she felt a warm smile creeping from the corners of her lips. "Fang." she breathed.

Said woman sat on a boulder by the edge of the river, a beaded necklace in her hand. She wore a short sleeved white shirt and a long flowing white skirt, her midriff bare and her feet in brown sandals. When she turned her head, her moonlit eyes seemed to brighten and she stood up.

"It's so wonderful to see you again!" Serah exclaimed, gently hugging the dark haired woman.

"You as well. How have you been living so far?" she asked, pulling out of the hug to look at her.

"Oh it's been great! We found a cute little cottage to live in. I tried to get Snow to help me with the garden, but he only cares about his new baby." she giggled. Fang raised a dark eyebrow before looking up at the sound of Snow's voice carrying over.

"Yah, got me a nice big truck. It's a little banged up but I figured it'd be fun to try patching it up myself." he said with a wink. Fang could only grin at her old friend as Serah stepped around her to stand at the edge of the river.

"Vanille?" she called. She nearly ran into the water when she saw Vanille standing in the middle of it. She looked up at the sound of her name being called and waded over immediately.

"Serah! Oh, how're you doing? Did you find the place all right?" she rambled as she hugged her friend tightly in her arms.

"It's beautiful down here, and yah no problems here. I had to get Snow to slow down though or we might've missed it!" she joked.

"He's a handful huh?" Vanille said, smiling so wide her cheeks hurt. She couldn't bear the excitement though, and welcomed it. After all, her dream was coming true. Everyone was coming back.

"Do I get a hello too?"

Serah frowned and looked around for the familiar voice before Vanille nodded upwards. Serah's eyes widened when she realized two more of her friends sat perched in a tree overlooking the river. Yeul was on one branch, another beaded necklace in her lap covered by a flowing dress much like Fang's. Her beautiful hair was pulled back behind her shoulders by a white ribbon. She looked tired, just like everyone else, but fairly healthy nonetheless.

Next to her branch was Hope, back to his full grown self and smiling down at them. He wore full white from top to bottom, same top as Snow but with white pants instead of black ones.

"Hope! Yeul! I'm so glad you're okay." Serah said.

The six friends sat around the river, some in the trees and some in the grass, but all together. They told stories about their new homes and their new lives without pain and suffering. Their souls and bodies had grown tired from their trials, but they all agreed they'd finally found happiness here.

30 minutes later and Sazh arrived with his son. They ran down, Dajh shouting greetings and running into Serah's arms. He had fond memories of his teacher. Sazh, out of all of them, seemed to have faired the best. The faces of his friends wore their past like a sheet, but he seemed untouched by it. In truth, he was just glad to have his son safe from harm again.

"I wonder when the food's gonna get here." said Snow as he yawned and checked a make-believe watch. Serah scolded him.

"Oh, you stop it!" she said, her face betraying her as she tried not to laugh.

"Hey!"

The group turned to the direction of the voice as the owner shuffled in place. "I know I don't have food, but maybe I can join in?"

He stood there in a short sleeved white shirt, khaki pants rolled up to his calves and chestnut hair blowing past his face. Serah stood up slowly before running at their guest full speed, arms wide open.

"Noel!" she cried, her face buried in his shoulder. Hope and Snow came up as well, Fang, Vanille and the others watching with smiles.

"Hey Serah." he said, returning her hug. Serah said nothing, sniffling against his shirt.

With each familiar face she felt her broken heart begin to mend. So long had this nightmare been that she felt like she'd never wake up. Now, though, everyone was slowly making their way back. With this, she finally began to cry.

Snow spoke to her softly, his hand rubbing her back in fluid circles as more tears were shed. She looked up, thanking him and watching as Hope and Noel exchanged hugs as well. Under different circumstances, they would shake hands. Here, though, after all that had happened to them they felt lucky to even see each other again.

Snow, who'd braved the fate of the L'Cie not once, but twice.

Fang and Vanille, the two heroines who saved Cocoon's people from a terrible fall from it's seat in the sky.

Yeul who had foreseen the end in many ways before she had been freed of it at the end of days.

Noel and Serah who had chased the timeline and walked it's rocky path.

Hope, once possessed by a god and his soul imprisoned after creating futures previously thought impossible.

They were so happy here, together and free of sorrow at last.

"You know, you guys look pretty happy here without me. Maybe I should just take the food back home with me and eat it all myself."

Serah looked over at the sound of the familiar voice and jumped, her reverie disturbed, at the sound of Snow's booming laughter.

"You can't seriously eat all of that food all by yourself, sis." he joked. He walked over, taking the basket from his 'sister's' arms. Just in time, too, for Serah had chosen this moment to launch herself full force into the other's arms.

"Oh Lightning! I'm so glad you made it!" she squealed. Lightning chuckled, lifting her arms around her sister and reenacting that day under the Cocoon pillar. The day when everything should have come to an end but didn't. The day that started off bittersweet and ran through mountains of hardship to finally come to a stop at an ending no one had expected. Here in this moment, a place higher than where they had started their second and third journeys...was where the true end resided. They may have had to fight harder and longer for it, but in the end this was what should have happened long ago.

Now _everyone_ could be together.

True to form, Snow grabbed Serah's shoulder and pulled her against him, grinning at Lightning as Serah giggled.

"Whoa! The reunions can wait! Come on, I'm starvin' over here!" Snow complained. Sazh chuckled behind him.

"You don't waste any time, do you?" He joked, going over and hugging Lightning briefly.

"No I don't!" Snow agreed cheerfully as he took a bite of a biscuit he had apparently stolen out of the basket.

Lightning growled at him, trying to keep the corners of her lips from rising into a smile as she snatched the basket back.

"Nice try, hero, but I think you're going to be the last one served at this meal." Lightning teased. She began strolling down the hill towards the river where everyone had originally been seated before she and Noel had shown up. Snow began jogging behind her, whining as the others laughed.

"Oh c'mon sis! Just one little bite and you guys can go to town!"

"Yah right!" Lightning said back.

She placed the basket down and sat next to it, opening it as the others caught up and gradually formed a circle.

"Here are some biscuits, just make sure the hero doesn't get any since he started prematurely." Lightning pretended to grumble, grinning wickedly at Snow's pouting face. Fang took the offered biscuits, her barking laughter becoming contagious as soon everyone else laughed with her...aside from Snow of course.

The meal lasted a while. Not a single person was able to stop themselves from talking and soon hours began to tick by.

As stomachs filled the crowd wandered into other things. Stories were told about sillier memories like Snow having practically lived in a castle to simpler memories thousands of years old. Monsters they fought and mishaps they had whilst camping in the wilderness.

Noel had played a joke on Serah in the dead of night and nearly lost his head for it. Snow and Sazh had once collected flan goo in Gran Pulse and dumped it inside their comrade's tents. That didn't go over well at the time, but now they freely laughed over it. Even Lightning couldn't keep herself from smiling at those fond memories.

Then Fang and Vanille brought up the necklaces they'd been making earlier, Yeul showing hers off and Noel having to fix the mess Snow had made of his. Looking around the circle, no one could deny how close they'd gotten. They were a family now.

When nightfall finally arrived the group abandoned the empty basket and spread out onto the grass, lying face up and watching the sky.

"You see that one? Looks like Mog." Noel said as he pointed upward. Serah giggled and snuggled up close to Snow.

"Yah it does, doesn't it?"

"I'm gonna miss that little guy." Snow sighed, tucking an arm behind his head. He looked over at Lightning and gave her a lop sided grin.

"But we're all here now and that's what matters. Mog would've wanted it that way I'm sure. Right Lightning?"

Lightning was sitting up, her legs crossed. She had long since tossed her heels she had been wearing to the side next to the basket. Her thin white overcoat flowing slightly with the breeze. She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Yah, I think we all have Lightning to thank for even being able to come back in the first place." Fang chimed in, her arms crossed under her head and her eyes closed as a crooked little smile appeared on her face as well.

Lightning felt her cheeks heat up at the compliments, but said nothing. Everyone else around her was now staring up at the sky, so no one noticed.

"Hey. I'm glad we got to do this." Sazh said finally, sitting up and stretching. He looked beside him and chuckled at Dajh having fallen asleep.

"Me too. I feel blessed." Hope said. He too sat up, beginning to feel sleepy.

"Alright, so who's hitchin' a ride in my truck?" Snow said giddily as he hopped up off the ground. Serah shook her head at his antics and grabbed his offered hand to get up with him.

"Do we even have a plan of where we're going?" Vanille chirped. Snow shrugged his shoulders as if she should already know.

"I figured you all could just come back with us. Unless you got other plans..." he trailed off. Vanille giggled and jumped up, taking Snow's hands and bouncing up and down on her toes.

"Anytime I get to spend extra with everyone is time well spent to me!" she cheered.

Snow laughed. "Alright then, everyone pile on. Just don't forget to pay me when we stop!" he said.

"Hey!" Vanille whined, watching as Snow took off towards his truck with an air of excitement in each step. She followed, others making their way to the riverside to collect their belongings.

Sazh and Noel followed the two most excitable members of their not-so-little group, each holding a sleeping Dajh and Yeul respectively.

Fang dropped a heavy hand on Lightning's shoulder, watching as everyone began to disperse in different directions. "Look at us, already splitting up again." she joked.

Lightning snorted. "Yah but no matter how hard we try we always end up in the same places under the same circumstances." she said, deciding to enlighten Fang in her part teasing, part thoughtful mood.

She looked at her old friend when she began squeezing Lightning's shoulder. "Yup. That we do."

Fang looked at Lightning, her expression falling completely into thoughtful and abandoning tease. "I wanna keep it that way, understand?"

Lightning chuckled and placed a hand on Fang's shoulder, the two almost mirroring one another. "I agree with you there."

"C'mon slow pokes! You're keeping the Snow-mobile waiting!" Snow shouted from the road, his arms waving frantically at them. Fang and Lightning began to laugh, neither able to keep a straight face or even their previous serious demeanors.

"The Snow-mobile? You've gotta be kidding lad." Fang shouted back as she began walking toward the now almost completely whole group. Lightning sighed.

She didn't feel hopeless or angry or sad. Right now, next to some random road out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by friends...she felt satisfied. Everything was as it should have been from the beginning.

"So, anybody have any bright ideas as to where my heels went?"

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Author's Note:

I hope you enjoyed this story! Remember to check my profile for other stories if you're interested and please REVIEW if you have the time! :)


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